Elizabeth Chamber
Elizabeth Chamber, better known as Elizabeth Stonor (died after 8 December 1602[1]), was an English courtier. She is remembered as the wife of Sir Walter Stonor, and was one of the women chosen to serve Anne Boleyn, the king's second wife, during her imprisonment in 1536.[2]
Elizabeth Chamber | |
|---|---|
| Baroness St John of Bletso | |
| Died | After 8 December 1602 Warwickshire[1] |
| Noble family | Chamber (by birth) St John (by marriage) |
| Spouse(s) | Sir Walter Stonor Reginald Conyers Edward Griffin Oliver St John, 1st Baron St John of Bletso |
| Father | Geoffrey Chamber |
| Occupation | Lady in waiting and Mother of the Maids |
Life
She was the daughter of Geoffrey Chamber of Stanmore, Middlesex and married successively, Sir Walter Stonor, Reginald Conyers, Edward Griffin and Oliver St John, 1st Baron St John of Bletso.[1]
She was a lady-in-waiting to each of Henry VIII of England's six wives, and was the Mother of the Maids, with responsibility for the conduct of the young maids of honour.[3]
In May 1536, five women were appointed to serve Anne Boleyn while she was imprisoned in the Tower and to report to Sir William Kingston, the Lieutenant of the Tower, and through him to the King's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, all that the Queen said. These women included Elizabeth Stonor; Anne Boleyn's aunt, Anne Shelton; Elizabeth Boleyn, the Queen's aunt by marriage; Mary Kingston, the wife of Sir William Kingston, the Lieutenant of the Tower; and Margaret Coffin, the wife of Anne Boleyn's Master of the Horse.[4] Sir William Kingston described the five as "honest and good women", but Anne Boleyn said that it was "a great unkindness in the King to set such about me as I have never loved".[2]
Marriages
Elizabeth was married four times:
- Sir Walter Stonor (died 1551),[1] Lieutenant of the Tower of London
- Reginald Conyers (died 1560)[1]
- Edward Griffin of Dingley (died 1569), Attorney General[1]
- She married, before 28 August, 1572, Oliver St John, 1st Baron St John of Bletso (died 21 April 1582)[1][5][6]
Notes
- Richardson III 2011, p. 289.
- Singer 1827, pp. 451–460.
- Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, 15, 21.
- Denny 2005, p. 275.
- Fuidge 1982.
- John Harwood Hill, History of Market Harborough (Leicester, 1875), pp. 5–6.
References
- Cavendish, George; Singer, Samuel Weller (1827). The Life of Cardinal Wolsey, by George Cavendish, His Gentleman Usher. With notes and other illustrations by Samuel Weller Singer (2nd ed.). London: Harding and Lepard.
- Denny, Joanna (2005). Anne Boleyn. London: Portrait. ISBN 074995051X.
- Fuidge, N. M. (1982). "St. John, Oliver (by 1522–82), of Bletsoe, Beds.". In Bindoff, S. T. (ed.). The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558. Historyofparliamentonline.org. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
- "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII". British-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
- Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.). Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Vol. III (2nd ed.). CreateSpace. ISBN 9781461045137.
External links
- Elizabeth Chamber Family tree